Abraham bassford



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UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEIoE.

ABRAHAM BASSFORD, OF NE\V YORK, N. Y.

KEY FOR TUNING PIANOFORTES.

Specication of Letters Patent No. 11,8152, dated October 31, 1854.

To all whom t may conce/rn Be it known that I, ABRAHAM Bassronn, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tuning-Keys for Pianofortes, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making' part of this specification, in which- Figure l: is an elevation of my improved key, Fig. 2: a plan; Fig. 3: a vertical section, and, Fig. 4: a horizontal sect-ion taken at the line A, a, of Fig. 3.

The same letters indicate like parts in all the figures.

My invention Consists in combining the spindle of the handle with the socket which fits onto the pins of the piano or other' inst-rument by means of cog wheels or t-heir equivalent, so that the two shall have their axis in, or nearly in, the same line, while the interposed gearing enables the handle of the key to turn faster than the socket, and thus enable the tuner to turn the pins with facility and hence with great nicety against the tension of the string, without the danger of bending over the pins or injuring the wooden sockets in which they are fit-ted. And my invention also consists iu combining with the handle and socket, combined with interposed gearing as above specified, the employment of a stop lever or arm projection from a plate to which a portion of the gear is secured, so that the said lever or arm may rest against some portion of the instrument to be tuned, and thus form a rest for the turning of the handle and socket in the act of tuning.

In the accompanying drawings a, represents a metal spindle with a socket ZJ, in the lower end thereof, adapted to fit the tuning pins of a piano or other instrument and made like tlie socket of the ordinary tuning key. The upper end of this is properly secured to, or made part of, a circular plate c having a projecting rim fl at top formed with cogs along the inner periphery in which mesh the cogs of a pinion e. This pinion is fitted to t-urn on a stud pin f projecting upward from a plate g and passing through and being attached to another plate g, the two plates being connected by other studs f, f', to give the required strength, and to keep the two plates parallel. The plate g, is concentric with, and turns in the cavity of the plat-e c, and from the periphery o-f the plate g', projects an arm iz., slightly bent down, so that when in use it may rest against some permanent part of the instrument that is being tuned to prevent the plate from turning'.

A spindle z', with a handle j, like the usual key handle, passes thro-ugh and works in a hole in the plate g by the side of the pinion e, and also extends down, and is fitted to turn in a suitable socket in the upper end of the metal spindle a so that the axis of the two shall be in, or nearly in the same line, and both free to turn with diHerent velocities.

The spindle z' is grooved (as at 7c) near the lower end to receive the end of one or more screws Z, Z, tapped in the body of the lower spindle a,.so as to hold the two together longitudinally and yet permit them to turn independently of each other.

The upper spindle z', carries a pinion m, which engages the pinion c.

From the foregoing it will be seen that when the lower socket is placed on the tune ing pin of a piano or other instrument and the tuner grasps and turns the handle o-n the spindle z', motion will be communicated by the pinion m, to the pinion e, which turning the plate g, until its arm L., comes in contact with some part of the frame of the instrument, and then the pinion e, imparts motion to the cogged rim al, of the plate c, which will impart a comparatively slow motion to the socket spindle a., attached to, or. making part of it, for'the pinion m, being smaller than the pinion e, and this, in turn, smaller than the surrounding cogged rim, it will result that the handle will turn faster than the socket spindle and the t-uning pin to which it is fitted, and thus enable the tuner with very little etto-rt to turn the tuning pin in either direction and with the utmost accuracy. In this way an instrument can be tuned with more accuracy, in less time, than with any other key heretofore known, and without any tendency to, or necessity for, bending or forcing over the tuning pins, a practice too often indulged in by tuners, to the serious injury of the instrument.

Itwill be obvious from the foregoing that the first part of my invention may be used without the second part, by dispensing with the proj ecting arm on the plate g, provided the tuner will hold the plate g, with one hand, or some other means of obtaining a rest be substituted; but the best results will be obtained when all the parts of my invention are used in connection. And it will also be obvious that the gearing interposed between the handle and the socket that fits the pins may be greatly varied by the substitution of equivalent means, and that the structure of the parts, and their' proportions, may be greatly varied within the range of my invention.

What l claim as new, and desire to secure by letters Patent isl. Combining` the socket spindle with the handle spindle by the interposition of cog gearing or the equivalent thereof, to increase the leverage of the handle spindle relatively to the socket spindle, and have the axis of the two in, or nearly in the same line, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. And I also claim in Combination with the two spindles combined together with interposed gearing, substantially as herein specified, the employment of an arm or lever rest projecting from the plate of the interposed gearing, to form a rest, substantially 25 

